Spring Break

Hooray!  The kids are on spring break this week and we are finally enjoying spring weather around here. It has been wonderful!  Yesterday afternoon we took a long walk on the Silver Comet to a little creek and let the kids play and throw rocks in.  We discovered that this is Hudson's most favorite thing in the whole world to do.  He would have been happy to do it ALL DAY  LONG.  He was really, really mad when we made him leave.

Today we had a low-key morning and then ran a bunch of errands.  It was nice to not get everyone up, dressed, fed and rushed out the door first thing and I always just love seeing and hearing the games the kids come up with when they have uninterrupted time to play at home.  Like this morning, I heard a lot of chirping and next thing I knew they were all picking at little pieces of paper.  Handley then explained that she was the mama bird, Harper and Hudson were the baby birds, and the paper scraps were the worms she had brought back to the nest for her babies.  If that isn't creativity I don't know what is.

While Hudson napped the girls helped me plant some flowers for our front porch and then we woke up Hudson and went to a nearby park.  We fed the ducks, played on the playground, and watched the trains pass by.

Not long ago I discovered that Hudson will be needing a lesson in taking turns and sharing with his friends and I'm really trying.  I recently discovered him yelling "MINE!" and he says it as he snatches things behind his back from the girls.  Then, today at the playground he was growling at other kids who came near him waiting for a turn to slide behind him or who wanted to pass by him on the play structure.  Growling?  Seriously?!?  He scared one little girl off and although I was really trying to encourage him to be sweet and take turns with the other kids he wasn't interested and was in some sort of growling mood.  Not sure what I'm going to do with him.

Harper's 4th Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Harper's 4th birthday with an indoor swimming party.  We'd been to a party at this place before and Harper remembered it because she was adamant when it came time to plan her party that she wanted an inside swimming party.  She LOVES to swim and the location is really fun for the kids.  They have water slides, fountains, a lazy river and tons of water fun.

They really limit the number of people you can invite, but it was fine because I was hoping for a low-key party this year anyway.  Handley and Harper both woke up excited about her party and they wore their bathing suits all day long, even though the party wasn't until late this afternoon.

All of the kids had a blast.  As soon as I gave them the go-ahead the girls hit the pool and went non-stop.  They swam, splashed, and slid their little hearts out with their friends.  Hudson did not want to give the water slide a try, but he loved the water and had fun climbing in and out of the pool over and over and over.

After swimming it was time for a snack and cupcakes.  Harper acted super shy when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her, but had fun blowing out her candles and eating her cake.

After the party we came back to the house and she opened her gifts, the kids played outside and the grandfather's went head-to-head in a corn hole tournament.  I think Harper felt pretty special on her big party day and we look forward to some more birthday fun on her actual birthday later this week.

Baseball and Birthday Presents

My kids are officially on Spring Break and I am way more excited than they are.  Today while Handley finished up her last day, we ran errands and got last minute things ready for Harper's birthday party tomorrow.

After school Mimi stayed at home with Hudson and Harper so I could take Handley shopping to pick out a birthday gift for Harper.  She had no trouble coming up with a few gift options and at one point she said, "we better get out of here before we find anything else to buy for her."  She was so thoughtful and really had fun picking out her gifts.  When we got home we wrapped them quickly and then made our way outside to play and enjoy the beautiful weather.

The kids played baseball and Handley had to wear her Braves hat!  They all loved it and had so much fun.

At one point Handley slammed the ball and was running the bases.  Harper grabbed the ball, chased after her and then threw it as hard as she could at Handley to get her out.  We had to explain to her that it wasn't like dodgeball and that nailing someone with the ball does not get them out.

Trey, Stefanie and Sophia showed up shortly after that and we were so excited to see them.  It has been a few weeks and Sophia has grown so much!  She's still cute as a button and sweet as can be. The girls immediately remembered who got to hold her first the last time so they took turns getting to hold her.

Harper had fun opening a few of her gifts tonight.  At one point someone said, "You know she is getting old when she opens the card first."  Then Handley read the card to her and my mom said, "They are both getting old when Handley can read her cards for her."  It's true!  They are both growing up so fast and I can hardly believe Harper is turning four, but she is so exited about her birthday that I'm excited for her.

Harper kept telling us she wanted a big "mom purse" so that is one of the things Handley picked for her.  

 Then after dinner we were back outside to watch the guys play a corn-hole tournament.  I just love having all of my family here together and am trying to soak up every second of it.

Mimi and Dadaw are here!

Mimi and Dadaw arrived late this afternoon for Harper's birthday weekend.  All day she'd been asking me when they would be here and just could not wait.  We are all happy to have them here and after dinner tonight the kids all took turns "flying" before bedtime.  We're super excited about a fun weekend with them and about celebrating Harper's birthday!

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter Sunday.  The kids were excited to wake up and check out their Easter Baskets this morning.  It wasn't until I was looking back at the pictures that I realized two of the three were wearing Christmas pajamas on Easter.

The item Handley was most excited about is her Silly Putty.  She has carried it around with her ALL day and even went to bed playing with it.  She was pretty amused when I told her that I used to play with Silly Putty when I was a little girl and that it was even around when her grandparents were little.

The girls and I went to church and then home to pick up Hudson and Robby before heading to Gigi and Papa's house.  On the drive to their house Handley kept singing VERY loudly in the car and it was starting to get to me after I had asked her several times to please sing a little more quietly.  The last time I told her to quiet down she was singing Jesus Loves Me at the top of her lungs and she said, "I'm just so excited because it is Easter and it is about Jesus being alive in Heaven, not candy and eggs, and I just want to sing!"  So sing, I let her! I was happy about her excitement and the fact that she understood the reason we celebrate Easter, but I still asked her to sing a little softer until we were not all sitting so close to her in the car.

As soon as we got to Gigi and Papa's house the kids ran in and immediately saw eggs hidden all over inside.  The rain couldn't stop their fun and they ran from room to room finding cleverly hidden eggs.

After a delicious meal it cleared up so we went outside to let the kids play a little.

Harper was fascinated by this flower growing in a crack in the driveway. 

Hudson went right for the puddles and his pants were soaked.  Nothing says fun like playing outside in your diaper! 

Fun Run, 5K and an Egg Hunt

We started our day off before the sun came up!  We were running in the RT 5K this morning and the girls were participating in the kids 1K Fun Run.  They had been talking about it for a few weeks and were super excited for this morning.  They laid out their "running clothes" and super fast light up shoes last night and when they woke up this morning they were ready to run.

They lined up with the other kids and took off when it was time.  I had asked Handley to keep an eye on Harper, because we were unsure where their route would take them and I wanted to be sure Harper was OK.  Handley hung back with her a little and from the very beginning Harper was in dead last.  She could have cared less though because she was smiling from ear to ear and waving at everyone cheering for her. Handley loved the race and crossed the finish line so proud.  It was the cutest thing I've ever seen and Robby and I were so proud of them both.

Then they hoped in the strollers and Robby and I got ready to run the 5K. It was my first 5K and the hills made it a little challenging, but it was fun and I'm so glad we did it together.  A lot of our friends were there, too!

After the run we loaded up on all sorts of free snacks and stuff (which the kids thought was the coolest thing) and then made our way home to change and get ready for our neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  They were really excited about another hunt and did an awesome job of collecting lots of eggs.

Hudson spotted the Easter Bunny first and ran up to give him a hug.  The girls were right behind him and this was the first year that Harper wasn't terrified of him.

After the hunt they spent a long time opening all their eggs and checking out all the candy and treats.  We officially have just as much candy now as we did at Halloween!

Apparently the race had a big impression on the girls because this afternoon while Hudson is napping they have been playing "5K" complete with race numbers. :-)